A Pintrosity

When you are trying to make this:



and you get this:



















I am pretty sure you would call that a "pintrosity."

I guess it was not meant to be.

Before the Christmas Card goes out

One of the hardest thing about being a female (at least for me) is my continual desire to compare myself (and our family) to others. I either see so clearly how much better we are at life, parenting, etc than all those other people, or I get really down on myself because other families have bigger houses, cars without dents, kids that stay in their beds, wives that cook the tastiest and healthiest foods and husbands who are the perfect dads. For as long as I can remember, I have struggled with this (not the kids/wife/homeowner part) but the comparing part- whether in grades, athletics, or looks. I hit a pretty low point my senior year of high school and freshman year of college when all that I seemed to know about myself and others was challenged. While I do not struggle on a daily basis with some of the sames thing I did then, I definitely still struggle. Being a mom makes it at least 8 million times harder. Maybe 9 million times. The number of things I can find to compare is almost limitless. And then throw in social media- that compounds the problem by about 10 million. So combine being a mom with social media and the odds (for me) of not struggle with the problem of comparing is now somewhere in the trillions working against me. And then throw the holidays in there- everyone's beautiful decorations, delicious cookies, perfect Christmas cards, and adorable Christmas outfits. Now it is probably as hard as it has ever been for me not to compare and feel totally inadequate (although those inadequacies are definitely interrupted with some gloating that I am sure to do when I do have it all together). But since it is so easy for me to compare the ways that I am less than others, every year, I get one chance to say, "see, we do have it all together, just like all the rest of you people out there!" That would be our Christmas card. I choose the layout I like, the pics I like even better and print off as many as will fit in our budget so that I can prove to everyone that we really are pretty great. Of course I am being somewhat facetious, but there is definitely some truth to that. There is a part of me that wants to be the standard to which other people compare themselves. The one whose pictures get the most likes on Instagram, comments on Facebook, pins on Pinterest and most "oh's and ah's over their Christmas card. But there is a bigger part of me that knows that is completely wrong- for a lot of reasons, the most of which have to do with the fact that God created us all in His image- not one of us is better than the other. So, I just wanted to give a disclaimer before our Christmas card goes out: while I love that Christmas card probably more than any other (cause I love how God has put together our family), you should probably know that those pictures were taken on a day when I was mad most of the day. Mad at the kids, mad at Nelson, mad at life. There might be smiles in the pictures, but there were no smiles in my heart. That's real life folks,  that's our real life. Thankfully, I am not mad anymore, and was not even mad by the end of that day, but I sure have been mad at other things since then. Our life is not even close to perfect, and I sure do not want anyone to think that. We get short with each other, I lose my patience with my kids, I say things I should not say to my husband, I go days without showering, my kids go to bed dirty because I do not have the energy to give them a fourth bath for the day, I haven't gotten my haircut since August, and we have eaten more eggs for dinner lately than most normal humans being should because they are cheap, fast, and easy. Sometimes I only cook a main course because I have forgotten about the sides, or even if I do make a side, whatever I tried to make totally burned. Our 1 year old normally sleeps in the basement so the rest of us do not have to be so bothered by her when she wakes up early, our 3 1/2 year old eats donuts or fruit loops for breakfast and has a dessert after almost every meal. There you have it- our life is not pretty, and I struggle comparing both myself and our lives to others. But please, in this world of internet perfection, please don't compare your life to ours and think ours is so much better (or worse for that matter- that does not accomplish anything either). But you still have my permission to think our Christmas card is cute! 

Christmas 2012

While I love Christmas and all the spirit that comes with it, I am taking the easy way out this year. Judge me if you want (I mean, let's be honest, how can you not?), but while everyone else is picking out and cutting down Christmas trees, hanging their stockings by the chimney with care- we will have no tree, our ornaments are hung from fake garland, and our stockings are hung from the curtain rod.

You can blame this on a certain one year old and a mom who has absolutely no desire to tell that one year old "no" 18 million times a day. So this year, I am taking the easy way out. And I have no problems sleeping at night.

Where you'll find us

In case you need Lily, she will either be in her high chair eating,



 in the bathroom on the stool,



or her chair in the corner (which is only in the corner for stability's sake).



Tripp will be either helping me in the kitchen



or cheering me on at a race (and trying to figure out why I never come in first place).



And Nelson- well, he's the glue that keeps this whole operation called life together. It was such a joy to celebrate his birthday today!

Happy Birthday Lily!

If I say it once, I have said it a thousands times- time goes by way too fast. I can not believe my baby is one! She has clearly grown up too fast! I vividly remember the day she was born- conversations I had with my doctor, getting to hold her right away, feeding her for the first time, Tripp meeting his little sister, friends visiting in the hospital, my in-laws getting to be there. The list could go on and on. This has been a hard year, no doubt, but I am not sure I could love this little girl more. Sometimes my heart feels like it might burst!! I love her smell, her blonde hair, her big belly, the way she says "dooooooo!!!" really emphatically when she is pointing at something she wants, her random order of teeth that are in, her wide open mouth when she wants a kiss, her already deep love for her brother and, yes, even her hairbows.We had a great day- starting with breakfast with Nonny, a visit to the doc, presents in the afternoon, cake after dinner and a bedtime bath complete with some cleaning from brother.

 

Happy birthday Lily! We love you so much and are looking forward to many years to come!!

Her 1 year stats:

Length: 31 inches (96 percentile)

Weight: 23 lbs 14 ounces (92 percentile)

Head Circ: 18 3/8 inches (89 percentile)

Not sure what I was thinking...

After finishing my first half-marathon, I was sore, tired and looking forward to resting for a while. But the next day (while I was playing the "let's all just lay on the ground" game with the kids), my friend sent me a text wondering if I wanted to run the Indianapolis Monumental Half Marathon with her. During a moment of weakness, even in my pained state, I told her yes- even though it was less than a month away. I still took two weeks off, had quite a time trying to figure out what new running shoes I needed (and time was of the essence since I needed to run in them enough before I raced again), got sick for a while and then managed to run with her this weekend and have a really good time. Running with another person makes all the difference in the world. It is so much more fun, the time passes a lot faster, it is a lot more motivating, and just all around a better experience. I am so glad it worked out and so glad that my parents/awesome babysitter were willing to watch the kids so we could make the 5 hour drive to Indianapolis by ourselves and just enjoy some time away (even if it meant running 13.1 miles to get that). We would love to make this an annual tradition- it gives us something to look forward to and what better way to catch up than run a really long way together!?! So Janet, let's pick our race for 2013 and get signed up!!

P.S. Now I plan on taking that break I was going to before :)

From the Mouth of Babes (again)

Tripp's take on life lately-

"I have been doing a lot better on my disobeying, haven't I Mommy?"

"We need to get some Halloween decorations. Maybe a scarecrow and some pumpkins. And some of those flowers. That could be nice couldn't it Mommy?"

You know you live in a baseball town when first thing in the morning you hear:
"Did the Cards win last night?"

"I think I want to introduce my sister to my friends. Have my buddies met Lily yet?"

"Today Patrick did not have peas in his lunch. Just carrots. That was strange."

Sunday Morning Life

Since we have about five hours before church on Sunday mornings, Tripp and I usually do some kind of baking. This past Sunday it was home made cinnamon rolls.
First we made the dough (in the bread machine- best/easiest thing ever)

Then it had to rise some more.

 

Meanwhile, we played some games, watched some TV and went to the store to get the cream cheese for the icing. Lily had a snack.

Then it was time to roll the dough and spread the cinnamon/brown sugar mixture

Then we cut rolled it up and put them in the pan.

 

They had to rise some more so it was bath time!

And then they baked, we iced them and then we ate them. And they were sooo good!

  

And at almost one year old, Lily has decided that she might like us and like being here with us. We have gone almost 5 days in a row of her being happy pretty much all day long. She actually says things- like Mama, Dada and dog (both of our kids' first words were "dog." Not sure what that says about us). She points at whatever she wants/needs and babbles all the time. She still has three or more teeth trying to come through but they do not seem to be that big of a deal. The only thing I wish we could figure out is the early morning waking up, but since she seems to be a fan of that no matter what time she goes to bed, I think that is just our lot in life with her. Tripp has really started to like being her big brother (he in fact told me that the other day for the first time) and he loves to make her laugh, play with her and be around her. It's only taken a year, but we are finally getting to a happy place (and do not worry- I have been around the block enough times to know that it will probably change next week- or tomorrow for that matter- so I am just going to soak it up for now)!

In the Trenches

This past week, my poor sister-in-law Winsor has gotten a lot of phone calls, texts, emails, snail mail, smoke signals, etc about the frustrations of this year, month week. Things like poop on the floor, poop in the tub, "poop" hitting the fan at work, etc. Lots of poop this week- whether literal or more in the analogy form. But besides these things, one of my biggest struggle lately has had to do with this half marathon that I ran today. No the struggle wasn't the actual physical go out and run 10 miles kind of thing, it was more mental. In that I really wanted to do well, but not just for doing well's sake- for the sake that I feel like a total has-been. That might sound a little extreme, but it's true. It is really hard for anyone who has any sort of competitive nature in them to feel like it is ok to "just finish the race" or "well maybe you won't have to walk at all." No, I wanted to do well. I didn't want "just finish" cause then that would mean I was not a real athlete. And I was. I used to run cross-county. We were third in the state my senior year. I used to play basketball, I got all sorts of awards for that. I used to swim and placed at state in that too. So I was good. And that's just it- I was good. I am not that good anymore. And that was really discouraging. I felt like a has-been. I used to be able to work hard and see results. Now, when I work hard whether at work or at home, I don't get a trophy, a medal or an article in the newspaper. Instead I get poop. Literal poop. And whining. And spit up. And crying. And sleepness nights. And broken iPads. No matter how hard I seem to work, nothing seems to pay off. At least not like it used to. I used to go to two-a-day basketball practices, and we would dominate in our games. I used to swim till I sweat (which if you have ever swam before, you know that is hard to do), and we would win races. I would study hard for a test and get a straight A (and I usually took the test in half the time anyone else would take). I think you get the point. And it is kinda a depressing one. Until I, like any good Covenant College grad, started to think calling. My calling. From God. My calling right now is not to be a high school athlete. It is to be a wife, a mom, a church member, an employee. I am called to spend my time now correcting whiney attitudes, cleaning up an entire meal that was thrown on the floor, changing my clothes three times a day because they got spit-up on, etc. And it is hard because there are sometimes no results to anything- except bigger piles of laundry, stains on the carpet and tears that have been shed. We are in the trenches folks, but that is because that is exactly where God has called us to be right now. No where else. It might be unrewarding, tireless, and downright discouraging. But God gives grace and hope to handle it all. So I may be a has-been when it comes to really fast times and really high test scores, but I am an "am-now" (yeah I totally made that up) to a wife, mom, etc. cause that is where God has called me to be today. And for that I am thankful.

 

 (But trust me, I will still total revel in the fact that I got a medal today- a genuine medal that basically says - "you did it and you are awesome for finishing. and a lot of people haven't done that. so be proud.")

Those two...

These guys have been keeping us on our toes lately (but then again, what kid doesn't?). But we sure do love them!

More updates coming soon (like the fact that Lily is practically 11 months old- how did that happen)!

Delicious Dinners

Thanks again to Pinterest, I have had some more inspiration in the kitchen and now have two recipes to share- spinach artichoke pasta (which basically tastes like spinach artichoke dip) and then chicken bacon ranch pasta. Wow, both of these are so good and as Nelson said "I could just eat these every other day!" Lily ate more than any of us the night, so apparently these are kid-friendly too!

Filling our Days

During my days off, we do lots of random things. A lot of days we go to the park or zoo or play with friends, but some days, especially rainy days, we have what feels like a lot of time and not a lot to do. So yesterday, I asked Tripp what we should do for the day, and this is what he came up with:

Go to the re-sell it shop to look for boots for his Woody Costume (which we found but then also found this Dora):

Be Woody for the second day in a row and play play dough:

Let Lily eat the play dough and play dough containers:

Go to Target and look at the toys, which we did not buy but did find this awesome lunchbox we found for Lily in the clearance section:

And finally, not as a suggestion from Tripp, but Pinterest instead- I made breakfast burritos for the freezer for an easy, on the go breakfast!

Pinterest Lately

I tend to ebb and flow with how much I am on Pinterest and especially how much I actually use it. Well, recently I have been on a Pinterest kick and have made two batches of cookies and one pizza recipe. and let me just saw- they were all fabulous!! The cookies were the peanut butter nutella ones found here, then came peanut butter m and m cookies found here, and tonight was personal pan pizzas. You should try them all, you will not be disappointed!!

To Each Their Own

It is probably a little ironic that I just posted about my kid who does not enjoy sleeping and now I am going to step out on a limb here and posting something a little bit controversial in the baby world- letting your baby cry-it-out. I will first say that it is really hard to do and pretty much makes you feel like you are a terrible parent for wanting some sleep. We did it with both our kids and both times, I thought I would throw up. But according to a five year follow up study that was just published in the American Journal of Pediatrics- you can rest assured (pun intended) that your kid is ok and is not going to suffer long term consequences. I can only link to the free abstract (but you better believe I am reading the whole article when I get to work and have access too it). I think there is definitely a time and place for it- not for little babies (these kids were 7 months old when sleep trained), they need to be big enough and old enough to handle it (which according to our pediatrician and Ferber, the guy who started this all is 4 or 5 months). Sure it is still really hard then, and a lot of people might not ever choose to sleep train their kids. and that is fine- just like people who use cloth diapers probably think I am crazy for spending sometimes what feels like a ridiculous amount of money on disposables. To each their own :)

*I feel the need to give Lily credit- she sleeps about 11 straight hours a night, those hours just start really early in the evening and at this point, she can't really be stretched to stay up later to try to shift those hours. And if we do keep her up, we usually pay for it in the morning when she wakes up even earlier than normal (last night/this morning). Sure, I could go to bed at 7:30 when Tripp goes to bed and then I am sure I would feel very rested at 5:30 in the morning, but then when would I ever get anything done, let alone hang out with Nelson?

Monday Morning

The fact that both of our kids are early risers has quite possibly been the hardest thing about parenting to me. I can deal with temper tantrums and poopy diapers, but the fact that a certain little girl has to be pushed to make it to 8 or 8:30 for her morning nap because she has woken up so early or the fact that we now go to Wal Mart for a lot of our shopping because it is open 24 hours, has really stretched me. I usually deal with it by trying to go to bed early, alternating with Nelson on the weekend on who gets to sleep in, and of course a lot of caffeine, but some days I just feel a little too tired to go on. I am sure that is an exaggeration, but today happened to be one of those days. And when one of those days strikes, I will often let Tripp watch a show (or two) while Lily naps in the morning so I can rest too. My rest time is getting a little interrupted lately though because Tripp has discovered Dora. Not only is this show pretty ridiculous in terms of laking any substance (but hey, it's TV, so let's call it like it is- I am not about to try to convince myself that he is watching TV that is educational, etc. It's TV and is for entertainment purposes only), it involves him calling out random phrases like "backpack!" or "map!" or "Swiper, No Swiping!" and it really cuts into my rest time. It is a little hard to get some good REM sleep going when it is being interrupted by "I'm the map, I'm the map, I'm the map." (for a really funny take on this you should watch Brian Regan's feelings on it. I am so with him!) I can usually get a few minutes of shut eye in before being woken up to one of Dora's spanish words being shouted right next to my ear. I am really hoping this is a quickly passing fad and we can go back to World's Toughest Fixes, or some much more mellow show that involves a little less interaction from the viewer and a lot less shouting.
In other random Monday morning news, I swore when I found out that we were having a girl that I would not like girly things. I have stood my ground on a lot of things (like headbands- but I really can't wait for her hair to get long enough to just have a plain grosgrain ribbon in it) but when I came across a pair of flowery pants at the re-sell it shop this past weekend, I just couldn't resist. It has been pretty cool here lately so I just had to try these out and see what I thought. And I think they are cute. I think I like them because they are subtle and not overpowering (I guess that was redundant, oh well). oh, and cause my adorable daughter is wearing them.

Happy First Day of School

Someone had an awesome day at school today. After we were talking about what he did this morning, Tripp summed it all up with "so, yep, I had a great day today!" The thing that seemed to get the most excitement out of him was the fact that he learned to sit "criss-cross applesauce" and then he also added "spoon's in the bowl!" Not sure if the second part is really how it goes- maybe that means your hands are in your lap? I could not quite figure that one out. But he lined up all his cars this afternoon to show them that he learned how to sit "criss-cross applesauce" (or indian style, for all of us old school people who forget about the need to be PC all the time).  He was quite proud of himself! At least one of the kids in the family is happy-sure makes a difference!

Cranky Pants McGillicuddy

Not sure where the name came from, but Ginny would use it to describe some cranky people in her life and when all the nephews (and one niece) were born, it made for a nice description of them at times. For Lily, now is one of those times. I used to think teething was no big deal- and then we had Lily. I used to think separation anxiety was no big deal- and then we had Lily. I used to think transitions were not a big deal- and then we had Lily. You could pretty much fill in the blank- I used to think ______ was no big deal- and then we had Lily. And just when I feel like getting really frustrated, she burrows into my chest, almost like she is trying to get back inside and wraps her little arms around my neck and snuggles as close as possible. I think she just needs a little extra love in her life, and there certainly is nothing wrong with that (and I am happy to give it to her)! I mean- look at that face- it is pretty irresistible (minus the bruises- those would be the result of her thinking she can do bigger things than she really can)!

Preschool Really?

In those two and a half days that I was in St. Louis between Dallas and Birmingham, we had visiting day for Tripp's preschool. He starts this Wednesday but got to go meet his teacher, see his classroom and meet his fellow classmates. Since I just drop him off in the carpool line on Wednesday, I had to get a first day of school shot on visiting day. He is going to school where I went to preschool and where my mom used to be the director. It is a wonderful spot and I am so thankful he can go. I can not believe he is old enough for this already but I am looking forward to watching him grow over the year. Happy Preschool Tripp!!

Traveling Time

It has been a busy few weeks in our household- I left for four days to visit Winsor and the fam in Dallas  and meet our new nephew and then we all went to Birmingham for three days over Labor Day weekend. Both trips were wonderful and while it was a lot to organize, it was totally worth it. I got to meet Lane, one of the sweetest little babies ever and spend some quality time with my other nephews. It really is sweet to get to be with them without having the responsibility of my own kids. Nelson held down the fort quite well while I was gone, and I am so thankful to him for even making it possible!

I got back from Dallas and had just enough time to work a little bit, do some laundry and re-pack our bags to head to Birmingham to visit James and Steph. The highlight of that trip was not getting to see James and Steph but instead, the fact that we drove 8 hours each way and only stopped once both times. Ok, maybe that was not really the highlight but I have to say, I am pretty proud of us for that. The real highlight is probably just being together, having lots of picnics, eating delicious food (including awesome dessert), seeing friends and family, lots of laughing and watching Sarah's House and Pioneer Woman (we do not have cable so those were real luxuries :) ). I am bummed I forgot our good camera (there was no way I could remember everything we needed since it usually takes me a week to get everything together for us), but thankful I got a few kind of good ones. It is the memories that count right? 

So even though it is not often enough, I am thankful we can travel to see our families and am even more thankful for the wonderful relationships that we all have with each other- what a blessing!

Teeth

Let the record show that on August 22, 2012, Lily's first tooth broke through. Sometimes I think that teeth really are no big deal, other times they are a big deal (for the baby and subsequently the rest of us). This tooth is somewhere in the middle. Lily is probably a bit more sensitive than normal, some of which could be attributed to some separation anxiety she has been having lately, but other than that, life just carries on. I just happened to notice yesterday a little white glimmer on her bottom gum and lo and behold, there was a tooth! Of course it is basically impossible to take a picture of it, but I tried anyway. And did not succeed. But I did get a cute pic of Tripp and a funny picture of Lily. Which is probably the best I can except these days